Albert Campion is a wonderful character, but in The Crime at Black Dudley he was sort of a minor character, and then he had a few adventures where he rather chose to play the clown. He didn’t really sett;e down until the middle period, Dancers in Mourning,. Death of a Ghost, Police at the Funeral and so on. But true, even in the heady, foolish days oif his youth, our Albert (of course that wasn’t his real name.) was a gem, and a deliught to read.

Ms. Allingham once said “I write everything three times. Once to get it on paper, once to get it right, and once to make it sound as if I just thought of it.” She was one of the finest mystery writers of the 20th century, and it’s good to know that she’s still being read.